Creamy 4 Cheese Brie and Buttery Ritz Cracker Mac and Cheese
Try this Creamy 4 Cheese Brie and Buttery Ritz Cracker Mac and Cheese recipe
Try this Creamy 4 Cheese Brie and Buttery Ritz Cracker Mac and Cheese recipe
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic minced or grated
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 cup fontina cheese shredded (add an extra 1/4 cup...if you want!)
- 1 1/4 cups havarti cheese shredded
- 1 1/2 cups crushed ritz crackers (about 1 sleeve)
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 1 pound elbow pasta (i really love any delallo pastas)
- 3 cups warm milk (i used 2%)
- 1 1/4 cups sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
- 4-6 ounces brie rind removed and chopped (i surely used 6 oun
- Carbohydrate 7.01760708867521 g
- Cholesterol 85.3733333333333 mg
- Fat 28.1956758440171 g
- Fiber 0.0556817846012931 g
- Protein 11.6356244070513 g
- Saturated Fat 17.770058741453 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -8 (145g)
- Sodium 316.662241452991 mg
- Sugar 6.96192530407392 g
- Trans Fat 1.70484284401709 g
- Calories 325 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta until al-dente. You want it to have a bit of bite. It will finish cooking in the oven. Drain well.
- While the pasta boils add 3 tablespoons butter to a medium skillet and melt. Add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds then throw in the crushed Ritz crackers and toss to coat.
- Toast the crumbs for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Once the crumbs are lightly toasted remove form the heat and set aside.
- In the same pot you boiled the pasta, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let cook/bubble for 1 minute, stirring once or twice to avoid burning. Gradually whisk in the milk and raise the heat up to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking frequently until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in all of the cheese, mustard powder, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is fully melted. Stir in the pasta and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
- Evenly sprinkle on the toasted cracker crumbs and place the baking dish on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the crumbs are golden brown and the sauce is bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and let site five minutes (yeah, right). Dig in!!
Ingredient lists rarely reveal the physical architecture holding a baked pasta together, particularly how starches interact with heavy dairy fats. Macaroni and cheese evolved from medieval European milk-and-cheese pasta casseroles into a distinctively American culinary staple documented in Thomas Jefferson's household writings, eventually transitioning from aristocratic tables to mass-market comfort food. Achieving the correct mouthfeel requires managing moisture levels and emulsion stability across multiple cheese varieties.
- Cook the elbow pasta precisely until it retains a firm bite, as overcooked noodles absorb too much dairy liquid and turn mushy during the twenty-minute bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk flour into melted butter and cook that paste for exactly sixty seconds to eliminate the raw starch flavor before slowly pouring in three cups of warm milk.
- Remove the sauce pot entirely from the heat source before stirring in the sharp white cheddar, havarti, fontina, and rindless brie to prevent the proteins from seizing into a grainy texture.
- Toss the crushed Ritz crackers in melted butter over medium heat for three to five minutes until golden, creating a crisp barrier that protects the underlying sauce from scorching.
Allowing the finished casserole to rest for five minutes off the heat lets the complex sauce cool enough to set properly without separating. Proper emulsion control transforms disparate melting cheeses into a cohesive, velvety coating that clings firmly to every curved tubular noodle.
